“TV-LOAD”: Austria’s TV industry gives the green light to the digitalisation of classic, linear TV advertising – with Media Manager from Virtual Minds

The working group Arbeitsgemeinschaft TELETEST (AGTT), TV-Insight and Virtual Minds have entered into a strategic partnership for using Media Manager. Teletest 2.0 and Media Manager form the basis for the live optimization of the linear TV commercial breaks, or “TV-LOAD” for short.

Freiburg/Vienna/Salzburg, 20 August 2024 – Austria’s broadcasters and TV marketers are implementing the world’s first combination of real-time TV usage measurement and digital playout of classic, linear TV advertising. The TV providers and marketers ATV, IP Österreich, ORF, ORF-Enterprise, Goldbach, ServusTV and ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 organized in the working group TELETEST (AGTT) have agreed to use Media Manager from Virtual Minds in order to make a dynamic real-time commercial break optimization in linear TV (“TV-LOAD”) based on Teletest 2.0 possible for the first time in the history of classic TV advertising. Using the innovative media solution from the European adtech pioneer, the Austrian broadcasters and total video marketers are confirming their status as trailblazers for the trend-setting development of TV advertising. The Austrian market is thus playing an internationally pioneering role with the realisation of innovative total video solutions.

By moving away from of traditional classic TV preliminary planning based on forecast data – a rigid and obsolete procedure according to digital standards – the dynamic decision-making logic of Media Manager offers broadcasters even more flexibility and efficiency for the automated, data-based marketing of their high-quality content. The pioneering tool uses Teletest 2.0 data to calculate the optimum ad block compositions in real time, taking account of the current audience and using freely selectable criteria. Even parameters applying specifically to the TV environment such as legally permitted maximum hourly advertising times can thus be easily implemented during the playout. Media Manager and Teletest 2.0 are thereby making a transformation of the previous linear TV commercial planning possible, and giving the Austrian TV market an opportunity to offer compelling alternatives to the global digital moving image platforms.

Win-win situation for broadcasters, their marketers and advertisers

The holistic dynamic optimization of commercial breaks in linear TV benefits broadcasters and advertisers alike. The flexibility gained facilitates both provision of and access to classic TV inventories at the same time as ensuring a considerable boost in efficiency: broadcasters can optimize their yield management in the long term and thus exploit additional revenue potentials, as confirmed by pilot tests with Media Manager. Advertisers and their agencies can act much more independently of preliminary planning and receive the purchased contacts, as in digital advertising.

After a successful test operation, Media Manager is to be rolled out at TV stations from 1 September 2024 onwards.

“The combination of Teletest 2.0 TV LOAD and Media Manager meets all requirements of future-oriented, data-based and automated campaign planning, management and optimization in the media genre with the highest reach: linear TV. This alliance is a milestone for making advertising in linear TV even more effective and bringing the advantages of digital campaign management to the big screen, where the ad impact is unbeatably high. According to the latest moving image study by RTR Medien and the TELETEST working group, 94% of all TV content is viewed on the big screen. Broadcasters account for 89% of the content consumed on the big screen. Live playout benefits massively from it. Revolutionary opportunities are opening up for advertisers for effectively reaching their target group,” says Thomas Gruber (ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4), chairman of the working group TELETEST. “This pioneering achievement of Austria as media location has the potential to change the TV advertising marketing of the future on a long-term basis,” notes Gruber.

Sebastian Hinterstoisser, CEO of TV-Insight: “Our main aim was to enable local TV channels to hold their own in the increasingly challenging media market. So we’re really delighted that our vision of digital real-time TV measurement (Teletest 2.0) combined with live optimization of commercial breaks (Media Manager) is now becoming a reality in Austria.”

Tom Peruzzi, management spokesman and CTO of Virtual Minds, explains: “We’re very pleased that the Austrian TV stations and marketers are making use of the performance advantages of Media Manager based on the consistent transformation of classic advertising and marketing models according to digital logic and systematic principles, and thus strengthening the competitive position of their quality media in the long term. More than any other media system, Media Manager stands for authentic digital classic TV advertising, i.e. digital one-to-many playout on linear TV. With functionalities such as dynamic real-time commercial break optimization, it’s the key to better inventory exploitation via the broadcasters and also enables advertisers to plan and book classic TV advertising according to digital logic principles with the corresponding efficiency advantages. With this initiative, the Austrian market is again confirming its considerable innovative power and extensive digitalisation expertise.”